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Author, Broadcaster and Pundit to be Featured MLK Speaker

HAMBURG, N.Y. – Award-winning author and journalist, Farai Chideya, brings more than 20 years of experience in the world of media, technology, and social justice to Hilbert College as the keynote speaker during an Annual Commemoration Lecture in the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be held Jan. 31. Chideya will speak on “What Happens To Equality When We’re All Minorities: Re-Imagining King’s Dream For A Post-Majority America” at 4:30 p.m. in the William E. Swan Auditorium.

Prior to the keynote address, an informal discussion with students from Hilbert’s Digital Media and Communications and English departments about pursuing careers in journalism, media relations and writing, will take place from 1:50 p.m. to 3:05 p.m. in the Palisano Lecture Room (101 Bogel Hall).

Besides being an in-demand diversity speaker, Chideya is the author of three nonfiction books: Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters; The Color of Our Future; and Don't Believe the Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African Americans. Her first novel Kiss the Sky was the Essence Magazine book club selection for May 2009.

Chideya hosted NPR’s News and Notes, a national radio show devoted to “illuminating the African-American experience” from 2006-2009, and served as a correspondent for ABC News, an anchor for the prime-time program Pure Oxygen on the Oxygen channel and contributed commentaries on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and BET.

Founder of PopandPolitics.com, an online journal and multimedia journalism training lab for 18-29 year olds pursuing careers in the field of journalism, Chideya’s website is now one of the longest continuously operating blogs in the world. Chideya and the website have had the highly coveted honor of being an official reporting agency for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and received awards including a MOBE IT Innovator award, named one of Alternet’s New Media Heroes, and ranked in PolicticsOnline.com’s survey of “25 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics.”

A book signing and reception will immediately follow the keynote address in the West Herr Atrium.

The Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Lecture, which is free and open to the public, is being co-sponsored by the Hilbert Offices of Multicultural Affairs, Career Development Center, Department of Liberal Studies Social Sciences Division, Digital Media and Communication Department, and the McGrath Library.

RSVPs by Jan. 24 are requested by e-mailing Tara Jabbaar-Gyambrah, director of multicultural affairs, at tjabbaar-gyambrah@hilbert.edu or call 926-8835.

Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.